A new study published in the journal Science Advances has claimed that LED lights might be doing more harm than good. As per satellite data collected by the researchers, the nights in Earth are getting brighter and brighter and this has increased what is known as 'light pollution'.

As per the data, outdoor lit surfaces have grown by 2.2 per cent
in the last four years.

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Focus

But why should we be worried about this? Increased brightness
during night not only disrupts the natural darkness but also disturbs the biological
clock of humans. This can have drastic effects and increased chances of
critical diseases like cancer and diabetes. At the same time, for animals, this
can be fatal.

But if light is the problem, why blame LED lights? The reason is
that LED lights consume much less electricity than traditional halogen bulbs as
well as CFLs. This in turn prompts people to use more lights since it does not
cost them much.

One of the conclusions of the research is that the developed
countries are more to be blamed for this. As the growth pattern can be seen in
South America, Africa, and Asia whereas countries that are suffering from war
such as Syria and Yemen have seen a decline in light pollution.

The researchers have warned that the real situation might be even
worse as many LEDs have a blue coloured light and the satellite that collected
this data is unable to pick the blue colour's wavelength.

But what is the solution to this problem? The solutions are
widespread and broad ranged including promotion of using lesser electricity,
using LEDs that are amber in colour instead of blue or violet and bringing in
policy changes.